Seven Years Ago…

It all began with an experience… in Austin, TX… in 2017.

My younger brother, Dan, lived in San Angelo, TX at the time. He was one of the news meteorologists for his local station and it was his first big gig after graduating college. Away he went - to start his new life journey.

When he was settled and ready for guests, I headed down to explore and spend some quality time. Dan is my only sibling - we are 11 years apart - which in hindsight, sounds like a large gap - but on my Mom’s side of the family, it was very normal to have large age gaps between siblings. My mother and her sister, her aunt’s children, my cousin and her brother… so to us, it wasn’t weird however I think it can be hard! When you are living in one generation and your sibling is in another - sometimes it’s difficult to have things in common or find common ground. But on my trip to visit him in Texas, I think it was a great bonding experience. One that I probably will never forget.

I flew into Austin, which is about 3 hours west of where my brother resided. He met me at the airport and as I greeted him, happy to be on the ground, we set off on our adventure. Beforehand, we discussed this trip. I was in charge of booking Airbnb’s and he was the guide. We decided to spend one night in Austin, a night in San Antonio and then even threw in a last minute trip to Garner State Park before going back to his place in San Angelo.

My brother had been to Austin many times and showed me some of his favorite spots. A huge dog park where music festivals were held, a couple of really cool bars and restaurants built out of shipping containers, local shops and of course… the food trucks. I remember it was raining the first day we arrived and saw so many river turtles! They were all just enjoying a nice sprinkle while floating along. It was pretty cool to see. The first night we stayed in an Airstream in someones backyard. Very Austin-like, haha. As we checked in and got settled, we were both ready for dinner. It was kind of late, around 7pm-ish and I started googling what was open near us. And alas! I found something very close - even walking distance. It was called Blue Cat Cafe.

Now, before I get into the magical details of this place, anyone seeing this listed would think Blue Cat Cafe sounds like a dive cafe. Maybe it has cat-themed decorations? Maybe it was in honor of someone’s cat - I don’t know - but I did not expect it to be an actual cat cafe at this point in time. As we walked out of our airstream and headed in the direction of the catfe, we realized that we were literally next door to this place. Actually, when we first arrived to check into our Airbnb, we noticed this badass mural on the side of a large building that was cat-themed. It had, now that I am remembering it all, a blue cat on it. We were literally staying right next door to this place.

I don’t know if you believe in signs or the Universe leaving you little clues in life - but I do believe this was my first sign and official introduction to - a cat cafe.

As we approached Blue Cat, we went inside to what looked like a small gift shop with a counter. A girl met us there and welcomed us, asked if we’ve ever been there before. My brother and I looking at each other and then back at her, simultaneously saying “no” with huge smiles on our faces - I think she new we were in for a treat. She explained how the Cat Cafe worked and how we had to pay a fee to go into the cat lounge per person. If we were interested in eating any food - there was a small food truck outside that served vegan dishes. We were allowed to eat outside before heading in, or we were welcome to take our food with us inside and enjoy it alongside some adoptable cats provided from their local animal shelter.

Once we got our vegan grilled cheesus - we decided to dine in. We sat at a table under a very large cat tree that was built in the middle of the space and started eating. As we’re enjoying our food, I look around at all of the fun surrounding us. A drum set that was turned into a cat tree, a gutted TV turned cat bed and really funky cat murals. It was colorful, clean and amusing. I even noticed a catio that they built for kitties to enjoy the outside air, safely.

While eating, I see a gray and white adult cat slinking down the tree and landing near our table - he decided to sit in the empty space next to us. He had a collar on and it said his name was Stanley. Fun fact, my deceased Grandfather’s name is indeed, Stanley. Another sign? Purrhaps…. Stan stayed with us for the remainder of our dinner and then followed us around as we explored the other parts of the Catfe. My one regret - that I didn’t buy a t-shirt.

That was my first real experience at a Cat Cafe. Some people think I experienced my first cat cafe in South Korea when I lived there in 2009. I did not, but I did experience the amazingness of their coffee culture world. It’s mind-blowing with creativity galore. A lot of inspiration was drawn from my time there in other ways, for sure.

But the Blue Cat Cafe was my first experience of the cat cafe world in America. It is unfortunately not there anymore. It closed down in February of 2019, and ironically my Cat Cafe opened in February of 2022.

And what a ride it has been! I am very thankful for two years and 200+ cat adoptions. But that will be in another blog post at another time.

I am hoping to share more personal, in depth info about my experiences and our cat cafe life here at Purrista. I hope you will join me! Thank you for reading along…

-Dena Rupp, Owner & Friend of Animals